Fallout 4: The Sole Survivor's Search
by TimTheUnlucky
Summary: When Nate when down into Vault 111, he expected to spend years down there - if not the rest of his life. Now over 200 years later he emerges to find where his son is, and to find the man who killed his wife. This is an attempt to novelise Fallout 4 using the default male Sole Survivor.
1. Prologue

Basically, this is an attempt at turning Fallout 4 into a full written story. As such I will be using the base name for a male Sole Survivor, as well as lifting a fair amount of dialogue directly from the game. There will be changes from the game however, such as the fact that in certain situations there may be multiple companions, or changes in dialogue, or even changes in the reactions people give. That being said, there will most likely be major spoilers, so I would recommend playing the game before reading this story. Due to the game being rated M in America and 18 in Britain, I have set the rating of this story as M just in case.

A little word of warning however, I haven't completed the games main story yet and as such update times may end up being fairly spaced out. That being said, I do intent to finish this provided all things go well. As I will be basically playing along side writing this I shall do my best to keep characters from acting out of character as much as possible, as such I will avoid bashing on characters and factions (even the ones I disagree with). This does not mean I won't have a character act like an arsehole if they're an arsehole.

Also while I am English I shall endeavour to use American spelling and try to use the correct American words (e.g. pants instead of trousers), I would greatly appreciate if you let me know if I miss anything.

Before I forget, Fallout 4 was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and Published by Bethesda Softworks. Both of these companies are owned by ZeniMax Media Inc. I mention all three as, aside from knowing that Bethesda Softworks filed for the Fallout 4 European trademark (which I believe was nullified for some reason), I am unsure who exactly owns the rights to the game and the series as a whole. Either way, I would like to say that I own none of this content, after all any changes I do make would still likely fall under their copyright.

* * *

"War, War never changes.

"In the year 1945, my great-great-grandfather - serving in the army - wondered when he'd get to go home to his wife and the son he'd never seen. He got his wish when the U.S ended World War II, by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world awaited Armageddon.

"Instead something miraculous happened. We began to use atomic energy, not as a weapon but as a nearly limitless source of power. People enjoyed luxuries once thought the realm of science fiction. Domestic robots, fusion powered cars, portable computers.

"But then, in the 21st century, people awoke from The American Dream. Years of consumption lead to shortages of every major resource, the entire world unravelled. Peace became a distant memory. It is now the year 2077, we stand on the brink of total war, and I am afraid. For myself, for my wife, for my infant son. Because if my time in the army taught me one thing, it's that war, war never changes."

As Nate finished practising his speech for that night, the fog obscuring the bathroom mirror cleared. Nora, his wife slid up behind him wrapping her arms around him and resting her chin on his right shoulder.

"You're gonna knock 'em dead at the Veteran's Hall tonight, hon," she told him, turning to give him a peck on the cheek.

"You think?"

"Absolutely. Now get ready and stop hogging the mirror," she gave a small laugh as she spoke.

"Right," finishing his shaving, and moving his hair out of his face - he'd have to go to the barbers at some point, maybe tomorrow. He moved out the way of the mirror.

"My turn, big guy." Nate gave a chuckle at that as he left the bathroom.

The house wasn't overly large; two bedrooms, a bathroom, a utility room, and the main open-plan kitchen and lounge. Stepping into the hall Nate headed to his and Nora's bedroom to change from his pyjamas to a white t-shirt and pale pants. Now ready to face the day, Nate headed into the main room of the house, stopping briefly to pop his head into Shaun's room to see how his son was doing - still sleeping.

Stepping through to the Lounge Nate saw Codsworth, the Mister Handy robotic butler that Nora and he had purchased not long ago, flying around the kitchen preparing breakfast. Codsworth's eyes, or two of them at least - the middle one stayed fixed on the stove where the robot was frying some sausages, turned to Nate.

"Ah, good morning, sir!" Codsworth's cheerful voice exclaimed as two of his arms reached out to pour a cup of coffee. Codsworth seemed to exclaim nearly everything, though that may have been due to the setting they had used. "Your coffee. 173.5 degree Fahrenheit. Brewed to perfection! And today's newspaper, just delivered!"

Only now did the robot leave the stove, tuning it off and expertly putting the bacon on an awaiting plate at the same time, to put the cup of - in Nate's mind at least - liquid heaven on the island next to a copy of Grognak the Barbarian.

"Thank you, Codsworth," Nate gave a grin as he picked up the coffee and moved over to look at the newspaper. "More of the same," this was said with a sigh.

With this Nora walked in from the hall, she looked breathtakingly beautiful. Shoulder length hair, not much darker than Nate's own, hung framing her angelic face. Placing the now empty cup on the island - swiftly taken by Codsworth and placed in the washing up - Nate turned to Nora, "hey, hon."

"Nervous? Don't be. Everyone's going to love the speech."

Nate couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his lips, the nervousness that had been coiling in his gut subsiding for now. This was one of the innumerable things Nate loved about Nora, how easily she could push away any of his worries or fears with barely any effort - a trait he was also capable of with her.

Opening his mouth to reply, Nate was cut off but a cry emanating from Shaun's room, their son announcing his awakening from sleep - loud enough to even drown out the T.V behind Nate, even if the volume was on low.

"Ah, sounds like someone made a stinky!" Codsworth announced, already heading toward Shaun's room he continued, "I shall attend to young Shaun."

"You know," Nora chuckled. "I was nervous at first, but Codsworth's really good with Shaun."

"Just glad his A.I's smart enough not to take out the buzzsaw or flamer when he's around Shaun," Nate couldn't help but chuckle at his wife's horrified expression, she couldn't stay mad for long however as she cracked a small grin herself.

A knock came from the door as the two calmed down.

"You get that," Nora said. "It's probably that salesman. He comes for you every day."

Nate recalled Nora mentioning a salesman from Vault-Tec who had come by the house every day since Tuesday looking for Nate, unfortunately for the salesman Nate left for woke early most days but as today was a Saturday that didn't matter now.

Heading over to the front door, Nate looked through the head-height window to see that it was some sort of salesman. Giving a sigh he opened the door.

"Good morning!" The salesman took a step forward, not into the house but close enough to hold a polite convocation. "Vault-Tec calling!"

" Vault-Tec? Remind me again," Nate tried racking his brain but past the name couldn't really think of what Vault-Tec did.

"Why we're about you sir! And helping secure your future," the salesman replied. He seemed to have a friendly enough demeanour, though that was most likely just to help with whatever it was he was selling. "You see, Vault-Tec is the foremost builder of state-of-the-art underground fallout shelters. Vaults, if you will. Luxury accommodations, where you can wait out the horrors of nuclear devastation.

"You can't begin to know how happy I am to finally speak with you. I've been trying for days. It's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you."

Nate frowned as he asked what was so important.

"Why nothing less than your entire future!" the Vault-Tec salesman replied. "If you haven't noticed, sir, this country has gone to heck in a hand basket. If you'll excuse my language.

"The big kaboom is...it's inevitable, I'm afraid. And coming sooner than you may think. If you catch my meaning." While Nate felt the salesman to be a bit pessimistic with is he couldn't help but agree, it was only a matter of time. The salesman continued, "now I know you're a busy fellow, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a, um, precious commodity...

"I'm here today to tell you that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local Vault. Vault 111."

"There's room for my entire family right," Nate felt worry twist in his gut, after all what if only he could get in due to his military service. What would he do without Nora and Shaun.

"Of course. Of course!" that eased his worries, some-what. "Minus your robot, naturally." - Damn, Codsworth had cost a fair amount of money, that being said Nate would rather Nora and Shaun be safe and lose Codsworth to the alternative - "In fact, you're already cleared for entrance. It's just a matter of verifying some information. Don't want there to be any hold ups, in the event of...total atomic annihilation."

The salesman seemed unsure how to phrase that, Nate couldn't really blame him.

"Sure let's do it"

"Splendid, splendid! Now let's see..."

In the end the information the salesman, or representative Nate supposed (after all he wasn't trying to sell anything, merely sort out what they already had), wanted to confirm was; the names of the family members; Careers, retired for Nate and Lawyer for Nora; and a few other miscellaneous bits of information. In the end it only took a few minutes.

"Wonderful!" The Vault-Tec rep said with a smile. "That's...everything...Just gonna walk this over to the Vault! Congratulations on being prepared for the future!" As this was said the representative put his pen into the inside pocket of his long brown coat and started backing away from the door.

"Um..Thanks again?" Nate called as he shut the door.

"Hey, it's peace of mind," Nora's voice came from the sofa to his left, looking over he saw her splayed there watching the T.V. "That's worth a little paperwork, right?"

"For you and Shaun, no price is too high."

"Good answer," Nora chuckled.

"I have my moments," this was said just before Shaun decided that he was in need of some attention.

"Master Nate," Codsworth said, flying down the hall into the lounge. "Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that 'paternal affection' you seem to be so good at."

"You hear Codsworth," Nora grinned. "Go on."

Walking up to Shaun's crib, Nate couldn't help the soft smile that wormed it's way onto his lips as he looked down at his son. Reaching down he stroked a finger over Shaun's cheek getting the infant's attention. Shaun, seeing his father, calmed down almost immediately and giving a giggle as his father tickled his belly.

"How are the two most important men in my life doing?" Looking up from Shaun, Nate saw his wife leaning against the door frame. "Spin the mobile a bit. He loves that."

Nate gave a chuckle as he turned back and span the rocket mobile, as he did so Nora came up behind him and hugged him as she had earlier in the bathroom. Shaun giggled reaching for the rockets.

Letting go of Nate, Nora reached down and picked up their son as she said, "hey, how's my little guy? Much better now, huh?"

Bouncing Shaun a few times, and earning a delighted scream from the baby, Nora turned to her husband.

"Listen, after breakfast, I was thinking we could head to the park for a bit. Weather should hold up."

Nate didn't even think it over as he smiled saying, "yeah, sounds like fun."

The three started heading to the door so they could have their breakfast, bacon sandwiches for the adults and a bottle of milk for Shaun, when Codsworth's voice sounded from the lounge. He sounded concerned.

"Sir? Mum? You should come and see this!"

The two parents looked at each other briefly before hurrying to Codsworth. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

As they headed down the hall they could hear the T.V, it seemed Codsworth had turned it up.

"Followed by...yes, followed by flashes," the news anchor, Jack Bailey, spoke in a resigned voice. Nate and Nora felt churning in their stomachs as he continued. "Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions...We're...we're trying to get confirmation..."

"What?" Nate turned to look at his wife as she spoke. "What did he say?" The fear and worry was evident in the tremor of her voice.

Jack Bailey continued, "but we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations...We do have...coming in...confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God"

Nate didn't even think, turning to Nora and seeing Shaun in her arms he fell back on his army training.

"We need to get to the Vault," Nora hesitated. "NOW!"

"Let's go," Nora said as she ran around the sofa.

Nate chose a quicker route, leaping over the back he threw open the door.

As they stepped onto the street, they heard an announcement from a load speaker somewhere telling the residents of Sanctuary Hills to head for the Vault. No one seemed likely to disagree with that, not even those who were likely to be unregistered.

Nate ran with Nora, making sure she didn't fall behind. He was glad she had worn sensible flat soled shoes, unlike Mrs Flinch from over the road. She miss stepped and ended up flying, Mr Flinch came up behind her and hauled her to her feet and the two continued hurrying.

Luckily the path to the Vault was only one house down, after that it was a short, only about ten minutes or so, walk through the forest before hitting the fence blocking entrance to unregistered people from the Vault. Given their rush Nate and Nora made it in a little over three minutes.

As they hit the parameter fence, Nate pushed his way to the front of the crowd, all the while making sure Nora and Shaun were right behind him.

It appeared the Vault-Tec Rep wasn't cleared for entry as he ran off just as Nate got to the front.

"If you're in the program, step forward," the soldier guarding the gate, flanked on each side by two other power-armour clad soldiers, ordered. "Otherwise, RETURN HOME!"

"We need to get in," Nate said breathlessly. "We're on the list."

The guard eyed them up, Nate couldn't help but feel this was wasting time. But then, the Vaults could only hold so many.

"Infant...Adult male...Adult Female...Okay, go ahead," as the guard moved out the way Nate and Nora continued running meeting up with a member of the Vault-Tec security who shouted for them to follow.

"What's going to happen to all those people outside the gate?" Nora gasped.

"We're doing everything we can, now keep moving," was the only answer she got. As they reached the entrance the security officer shouted, "step on the platform, in the center."

Here, he broke off from the couple as he ran to a booth, Nate assumed that was where the controls for the platform were located

"Almost there," Nate said, as Nora, Shaun, and he made it onto the platform. "We're going to be Okay. I love you. Both of you."

"We love you too," Nora replied.

Not even half a second later, before the platform could jerk into action, a bright light flashed across everyone's vision. Nate looked over Nora's shoulder, grabbing both Shaun and her in a tight protective embrace.

He could barely hear the shouts of a soldier shouting to lower the platform as he saw the mushroom cloud form.

"OH GOD, NO!" Nora screamed. Nate tightened his embrace, being sure not to injure Shaun accidentally.

Nate could just see the approaching shock wave from the explosion.

"HOLD ON!" He shouted as he closed his eyes, burying his face in his wife's hair.

A whoosh of hot air, much less severe than what he had been expecting, blew around them. Looking up and opening his eyes slightly, Nate saw the hole left by the platform closing above them. It appeared they had made it, though only just.

* * *

Well that's the first chapter of what I hope to be a good story finished.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I have made a few edits to this as it has been brought to my attention that there were some small grammatical mistakes, should there be any missed I would be grateful if you could let me know


	2. Prologue 2

Time for the second part to the prologue, due to this taking so long I'll just get straight into this.

* * *

The ride down didn't take very long in the end. Only a couple of minutes.

As they descended Nora released a relieved sigh. Pulling back from Nate's hold she looked up at him.

"We did it," she said. "We made it."

Nate couldn't help but sympathise, it had been touch and go for a bit. The fact they had seen the explosion proved that much.

Looking around Nate looked at the small group who had gotten onto the lift, only eight of them. Hopefully more had gotten down to the Vault beforehand.

As the gate raised a voice announced, "Everyone please step off the elevator and proceed up the stairs in an orderly fashion."

When the large painted steel gate finished raising the group began to trickle off of the elevator and into a concrete room. Directly in front of them was a metal staircase. Nate glanced at Nora and Shaun, and then stepped forward.

Others moved off to the side, likely to try and deal with what had just happened. Nate just wanted to get this over with, Nora must have felt the same as she followed just behind. He heard one of the men (he was in a jumpsuit instead of armour so Nate could only assume he was a resident or staff) reassuring one of the survivors. Nate didn't pay much attention past hearing to go up the stairs, not like there was anywhere else to go.

"Vault-Tec is here for you," a voice rang from speakers causing Nate to look up at where he thought they were coming from. "All new residents please proceed in an orderly fashion. Welcome Home!" He knew it was probably meant to sound comforting but, with what had just happened, it sounded...

Nate had a feeling he wouldn't sleep that night - either because of the nightmares returning or worry or stress or any number of other reasons, he didn't know. Still best to get this over with now and deal with that later.

As he got to the top of the stairs he saw the inside of the true entrance to the Vault passed the giant gear shaped entrance. A podium to the left had someone - either a resident or staff - checking off the new arrivals. Further in stood a group - three new arrivals, a scientist, and another jumpsuit-wearer - Nate looked back at Nora before leading the way over to them.

"Take a Vault suit then head down the hall," the jumpsuit-wearer said, handing the three new arrivals some bags.

"Each of you take one of these," she said as Nate and Nora stepped forward. "Your brand new Vault suits." There was no way she wasn't a member of staff; the smile - pleasant and friendly yet fake to the core (with what had just happened there was no way the smile was real), along with the tone of voice gave that away.

"Thanks," Nate said grabbing both his and Nora's Vault suits. "What now?"

"Just follow the doctor," so not a scientist like Nate had assumed, the doctor nodded pleasantly enough when the woman gestured to him. "He'll show you where to go."

"All right you three, follow me," with that said the doctor stared down the hall with little more than a gesture for them to follow.

Nora looked around apprehensively before speaking. "See? This is our new home..." Nate looked at her and saw she was talking to their son, most likely to comfort herself. He wrapped an arm around her and they began following the doctor.

"You're going to love it here," the doctor said without looking back. "This is one of our most advanced facilities. Not that the others aren't great, mind you..."

As he said this the four of them passed though the hall, from what Nate could see it looked fairly long and filled with people standing in small groups. Nate couldn't help but listen in on what was being said, all of it was people voicing the loss of everything they had - whether it be possessions or family.

After a while Nora asked, "How long do you think we'll be down here?"

"Oh, we'll be going over all that in orientation," the doctor responded with a slight chuckle, Nate scowled at the doctor's back for that but he supposed everyone had their own ways of dealing with all this. "Just a few medical items we have to get through first."

As this was said they reached the end of the hall way revealing a large room with pod-things lining the left and right walls.

"Just head to the end, put on your Vault suits and step in," the doctor said with a smile.

Not knowing what else to do Nate glanced at his wife, catching her eye, and began walking through the small crowd of people. Luckily there was a screen they could change behind that afforded everyone some small amount of dignity.

As it was Nate would be opposite Nora and Shaun.

"How's my little guy?" Nate gently stroked the side of Shaun's face as his wife prepared to enter her pod, Shaun having decided that he didn't want his father to leave him. "I'll just be over there."

By this point everyone had changed into their Vault suits, as Nate and Nora stood before their respective pods the same doctor who had lead the way to this room stood before the crowd of survivors.

"The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper in the Vault," he said, Nate looked at the pod apprehensively. While he could understand the need for this, after all Shaun was still young enough that he still had an underdeveloped immune system - or so the various health books and professionals had informed him - Nate still didn't want to leave his wife and son alone. Not after what had just happened, not for one second. "Just relax."

Stepping in and turning around he found he had a good view of Nora and Shaun, this put his mind more at ease.

The pod door lowered into position and, with a hiss, sealed Nate from the outside.

Nora held Shaun up to the window of her own pod and Nate smiled slightly and gave his wife and child a small wave.

"Time for a whole new life," he muttered.

"Resident secure," a computerized voice announced. "Occupant vitals: Normal. Procedure complete. In 5..."

As the countdown started Nate couldn't help but start feeling colder.

"4..."

Nate looked over at Nora as his eyelids started feeling heavy, who knew decontamination was so...tiring.

"3..."

Was it him or was it starting to get really cold now?

"2..."

Nora looked up at Nate and mouthed, "I love you."

"1..."

The world went white as the last number echoed around Nate's head.

...

...

...

"Man...ride...ted," the voice was...distant. Nate could only just feel consciousness return. "Cry...sis...pended"

The world faded back into view, though out of focus. The more Nate tried to correct this the worse it got.

It wasn't long before two blurred figures walked in front of Nora's pod, were the scientists about to let them out?

"This is the one," said the blur on the...right? Nate was sure it was the right but he was still a bit out of it.  
"Open it," the other ordered, Nate brought his hand to his face.

It felt like he was moving through water. Why was he so cold?

As the door to Nora's pod opened Nate saw his wife slump forward releasing a hoarse cough. Sadly this caused Shaun to let out a cry.

"Is it over?" Nora asked. "Are we okay?"

By now the worst of the fuzziness had faded, though Nate still had trouble with the figures feature. They were less blurred and more...smudged?

"Almost," the figure on the left spoke, by his voice Nate could tell it was a male. "Everything's going to be fine."

Nate moved his hand to the door of his own pod as the figure on the right moved forward, arms out stretched to take Shaun. Probably to make it easier for Nora to get out of the pod, that being said Nate knew her well enough to know she'd turn the offered help down.

"Come on," the figure spoke.

"No, wait," Nora said as Shaun began to cry louder. "No, I've got him!"

Nate frowned, Nora sounded distressed. With all his strength he hit the pod door to get their attention. It barely made a noise, likely only he could hear it.

The man on the left raised his hand and, although smudged, Nate recognised the silhouette of a hand gun.

"Let the boy go," Nate tried hitting the door again with more force receiving a small thump for his efforts. "I'm only gonna tell you once!"

By this point Nora was in a small tug-o-war with the figure on the right over Shaun.

"I'm not giving you Shaun!" Nora responded. By this point Nate's hand was getting sore from continually pounding on the door, determined to help his wife protect their child.

The gunshot rang loudly.

Nate stopped pounding on the glass as he watched his wife release Shaun, slumping into her seat.

"Goddammit!" the man who had just murdered Nora cursed. "Get the kid out of here, and let's go..."

With that said he walked up to Nate's pod, after closing Nora's, and looked through the window at the shocked Nate. For the first time Nate was able to see the man's features, though still not clearly.

Bald, stubble around his chin, dark eyes with the left having a scar run vertically through it. Nate felt anger and hatred burn in his gut as he brought his fist up to the window and punched it with all his might.

"At least we still have the backup," the murderous bastard said, not even flinching as Nate's fist struck the glass.

"Cryogenic sequence reinitialized," the computerized voice from before spoke out.

Before falling into the white once more Nate released a scream of rage and frustration striking the glass again and was rewarded with a flood of pain from the knuckle of his pinky, as well as a small spider web of cracks from where his fist hit.

The whiteness this time came quicker, though Nate did his best to fight it off.

* * *

And that's this chapter done, once more feedback is greatly appreciated.

A fun little fact, this chapter takes place over the course of about four to five minutes of the game. This may take some time.

Edit: Once more I've gotten some pointers about spelling and grammar so I've just gone through and sorted that out, next chapter should be up in a few days


	3. Chapter 1

Sorry this took so long, soon I'll hopefully get a schedule or something

* * *

The first thing Nate became aware of was the tightness in his chest, he didn't know if this was caused by the fact he could feel his hard thudding in his chest or the fact he couldn't stop coughing. To be fair one could have caused the other.

After his coughing died down he opened his eyes blearily looking across from him, everything was so blurry. What was that wheezing sound? Or was it an alarm? Both?

"... Failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately," speaker system announced.

What? Nate was beginning to feel panicked. Without thinking he punched the glass of the pod he was in. Pain blossomed outward from his knuckles but a large spider web of cracks mimicked the pain across the glass.

Leaning back in his seat Nate placed his right foot on the centre of the window and pushed. He could feel the glass give slightly, the cracks spreading as toughness of the glass had been compromised. Placing his left foot on the metal to the side of the glass Nate pulled back his right and, with what strength he had left, kicked forward. His foot went through the window and all the glass fell away in chunks.

Pulling his foot back Nate stood once more, moved his head next to the hole and took several gulps of air. It tasted stale - still it was better than what was offered in the pod. After regaining some of his bearings Nate elbowed out the remaining glass and pulled himself out of the pod falling to his hands and knees awkwardly on the concrete floor. Once more his knuckle flared in pain accompanied by his knees to a lesser extent.

Nate ignored it as best he could and pushed himself to his feet. Looking ahead of him he saw Nora's pod and stumbled forward. Grabbing one of the red handles he tugged. No good.

To the left of the window he saw a valve marked 'Pressure Release'. All it did was spin loosely. No surprise there, after all if there had been any real pressure then there would have either been a rush of air either in or out of his pod when he broke the window.

"Come On!" he shouted, frustration and adrenalin overriding the pain from his knuckle. "There has to be a release..."

As he said this he looked around and saw, just to the right, a box of some sort. It had a series of gauges but what caught his attention was the red switch. Could this be it? Taking the chance Nate flipped it and the pod lifted slightly.

"Come on, come on, come on," Nate chanted this as the pod raised. "Oh God!"

There in the seat lay Nora. On her forehead, about an inch above her right eye, was a hole only slightly bigger than Nate's finger nail surrounded by a small amount of frozen blood. Behind her however...

Nate dropped to his knees tears falling down his cheeks, he couldn't look away from his wife's face.

The anger returned. Rage, hot and burning racing through his veins. He swallowed, hard, suppressing it as best he could.

"I'll find who did this," he said, trembling. "I'll get Shaun back. I promise."

With this promise he stood forcing his legs to hold, and leant forward brushing Nora's hair behind her ear. He ignored the ice crystals that fell from the disturbance.

Taking Nora's wedding ring with him, a silent promise that when he found Shaun this would allow Nora to be with him, Nate stood straight once more.

"I'll be back," he said. "When I get back I'll give you a proper burial." After he said this he closed the pod once more to preserve Nora from the ravages of time and looked away.

Walking through the room that, not so long ago, had been bustling with activity. It was so quiet, the only noises were a slight hum at the edge of Nate's hearing and the slight muffled sound of his footsteps. Nate was hoping the hum came from the pods.

At the end of the pods Nate spotted a wall-mounted computer terminal, if he had woken up suffocating what was it like for others? For that matter why had he woken up?

Soon the sound of the terminal booting up joined the hum. There were three options: Cryogenic Array, Life Support, and Pod Occupant Status. Wanting answers Nate selected the first option and read what came up.

The terminal didn't give any answers as to what the Cryogenic Array was about as Nate had hoped, he supposed there may be other terminals that held that information elsewhere. Nate did however learn what had happened to the pods, apparently the system had gone offline resulting in a system failure. Nate returned to the main screen and selected the Life Support option.

His eyes widened as he felt the blood drain from his face. Offline. that was why he had woken up suffocating.

Abandoning the terminal he rushed over to the nearest manual release and flipped the switch to open the pod. Before he could move to the next to repeat this action, something he planned to do for all the pods in the room, a buzzer sounded followed by the same computerized voice he had heard waking up.

"Malfunction in Cryo pod manual release override."

For the next minute or so all that could be heard from the room was the buzzer and voice sounding repeatedly until Nate had checked all the pods in the room. Only Nora's pod released, not even his own would. Nate felt a sense of dread at that, what if he had been unable to break the window?

Moving back to the terminal he checked the final option. Each pod had someone's name attached, even Shaun was listed along with his mother. Every name Nate selected said the same thing:

Occupant Status: Deceased. Cause of Death: Asphyxiation due to Life Support failure.

At least all but two said this. The pod Nora and Shaun had shared had 'Unknown' as their status with 'Remote Override Engaged' as the reason, Nate also had Unknown with 'Cryo Pod door damaged' as his own reason.

Nate stepped back from the terminal.

"Why?" he whispered to himself. "Why would Vault-Tec do this?"

Pushing the emotions welling up to the side, not an easy task, Nate left the room. Entering the hall from before Nate was unsurprised to see it was deserted, if there had been any security surely they would have come to find out what he had been doing to cause the buzzer to go off so much.

Nate clenched his fists forgetting about his knuckle, that turned out to be a not so great idea as he ended up gasping in pain. He wasn't likely to be using that finger for a while. With that done he started walking down the hallway cautiously. If his time in the army had taught him anything, and there was much it had, it was to always be on guard in these sorts of situations and he was currently alone and unarmed. Not good.

Making it to the end of the hallway he found a maintenance trolley with a toolbox on it. Nate allowed a grin to make its way onto his face as he opened the toolbox. It was almost empty, which was surprising, however Nate found two useful things in there; an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver. He felt slightly better now he was no longer unarmed, the wrench could serve as a club like weapon if needed and the screwdriver as a knife.

Nate growled as he'd only be able to use his left hand for this, opening his Vault suit slightly and slipped the screw driver in. He could feel the chill of the metal against his skin and, after a few adjustments for comfort and safety (Nate didn't fancy stabbing himself by accident), Nate zipped the suit back up.

Moving the trolley out the way Nate tried opening the door.

"Malfunction in emergency exit door override," the damned computerized voice spoke after the buzzer had sounded. Again. "Please contact your Vault-Tec maintenance representative for service."

Frowning at this he looked around and spotted another door to the side, hopefully this wouldn't also be locked. Moving toward it Nate activated the door and released a sigh as it opened.

"Thank God for small mercies."

Moving into the new hall Nate made his way down a set of stairs, all the while keeping the wrench firmly in his left hand at the ready. As he approached an open door Nate moved to the wall and used this as cover as he looked around the corner. Clear aside from a large window, what gave Nate cause for concern was when he looked at the window initially he thought he saw a shadowed shape move out of view. His fingers tightened around the wrench, he also winced slightly as his right hand flexed instinctively sending a sharp stab of pain through his hand.

"What was that?" Nate muttered to himself.

Another quick sweep around the room and Nate entered, keeping low to avoid being seen through the window. He didn't want to chance anyone seeing him, especially as the last two living people he'd been near had killed his wife and kidnapped his son.

Reaching the end of the room he spotted another room off to the side. This one was much smaller, a type of office Nate guessed given the filing cabinets and desk - upon which sat another terminal along with some things Nate was thankful for; a pack of cigarettes and a flip lighter, and a stimpak.

"Thank Christ," Nate sighed as he placed the stimulant with the screwdriver in his Vault suit, it paid to be ready for the future - Nate just prayed this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass.

It had been a few years since he'd last smoked, Nate was pretty sure he could justify having one after he got out of the Vault. Opening the pack he saw three straights, nodding to himself he put the lighter in the pack and turned to the terminal. Would this one have the answers he wanted, or would it just serve to help try and break him like the previous one?

Once more there were three options; Vault 111 Security Instructions, Operations Protocol Manual, and Security Logs. Nate's eyes instantly went to the security logs but the instructions might help fill in some details. Nate selected the first option.

This supplied the answers Nate was looking for, not that this meant he felt better. On the contrary, Nate felt his hand flare up once more as his hands clenched but he ignored the pain. Apparently Vault 111 had been designed to 'test the long-term effects of suspended animation on unaware, human subjects'.

"What the fuck is Vault-Tec up to?" Nate all but snarled. "Seriously, unaware human subjects? Lethal force for insubordination?"

Taking a deep breath, soon followed by a few more, Nate clicked back and selected the second option. This opened up three more options. Nate scowled, he knew this may be the case but that didn't make it any less frustrating, and with his already dark mood he was having to restrain himself from putting the wrench through the terminal screen as it was.

The first of these three was fairly standard, up until Nate read the bit about 'disposing' any unaccounted for residents - Nate had a bad feeling about that. Aside from that, the second and third were perfectly normal types of things; staff duties, what to do in case of an evacuation, and awaiting the 'All-Clear' message.

Back at the main screen Nate selected the security logs, time to see what happened here. Unsurprisingly there were multiple options here, Nate figured he could probably skip quite a few as they would likely be standard stuff. In the end he chose five logs that stood out: October 23, 2077; December 25, 2077; March 14, 2078; April 23, 2078; and the final entry marked as 'LAST ENTRY' with no date.

October 23, 2077 turned out to be better than Nate was expecting. The guard who had written it didn't feel right having not told them anything and lamented the fact that 'The Big Kaboom' , as the Vault-Tec rep had put it (Nate figured he didn't know about what would happen as he had seemed to try and get into the Vault), had occurred.

December 25, 2077 was mostly about a Christmas party the Vault staff had, apparently neither the scientists nor the Overseer came which led on to the writer questioning whether there were other company secrets before dismissing them.

March 14, 2078 was apparently a few weeks before the All-Clear was supposed to happen, due to this people were getting stir crazy and the writer was getting paranoid.

April 23, 2078 was when the door Nate had been faced with malfunctioned, at least that's when the writer had added it to his logs. Now the way out was through the Overseer's evacuation tunnel, good to know. As well as this, the writer was invited to a Support and Security staff only meeting. Something must of happened there then.

The LAST ENTRY was about a mutiny that happened, Nate wasn't sure who had started it but whatever had happened didn't sound good.

Nate stepped away from the terminal . Exiting the office he went over to the closed door he had been going toward before stewing over what he had read. The writer had almost murdered someone over a dropped cracker in the final entry apparently, it looked like there had been some very bad things that had gone down here.

Stepping through the door Nate made his way down the hall with his wrench held at the ready, just because there wasn't supposed to be anyone here didn't really mean anything - after all, he'd seen that black thing through the window when he'd gotten into this room.

Reaching the end of the hall Nate opened the door, making sure to keep pressed to the wall just in case. The room before this had two doors on the other end; one lead to what looked like a mess (if the benches Nate could see were any indication), the other was unknown as it was out of sight - the only reason Nate knew it was there was from the light that was projected on the floor in front of it.

Just as Nate was about to move away from the wall he heard...something. It was a sort of scuttling sound, there was no other way of describing it - at least Nate couldn't think of one. Frowning, Nate looked toward the mess where the sound was coming from - coming from and coming closer.

Less than two seconds later he saw what was causing the noise as a large bug came out of the mess. Standing at just under half a foot high and being about a foot long it looked like some sort of giant cockroach, gripping the wrench tighter Nate moved slowly so as to not attract the bugs attention. This failed about three steps in as it turned in his direction and, after a brief pause, rushed toward him.

Waiting for the bug to get into arms reach Nate swung catching the oversized roach across its back. The force of the hit sent the giant insect rolling and cracked the chitin on it's back. As the bug was dazed Nate came forward and swung down this time, the body of the bug seemed to give way to an explosion of viscera.

Nate grimaced as this happened, as some had made its way onto his Vault suit.

* * *

I'll be honest, I wasn't planning on ending this here. That being said, time (and the fact this seemed like a good cut off point) caused this chapter to be shorter than intended. Luckily I have managed to rope some family into proof-reading these now so there should, hopefully, be less errors in grammar and spelling


End file.
